How To
Confident Knitting: Garter Stitch Short-Row Heel
Garter Stitch (dear to our hearts) + Short-Row Heel (preach!) = We can’t love this new design enough.
In case you’re just tuning in, every month, the Arnall-Culliford Knitwear Confident Knitting series pairs a must-knit design with a video tutorial to expand your repertoire of skills. This combo from Jen Arnall-Culliford rises to the head of our queue.
Extra stretchiness
We love the versatility of this heel—it’s worked in exactly the same way whether you start your sock at the cuff or the toe. And the dynamics of garter stitch produce an extra-stretchy zone just where you need it most.
Jen demonstrates each step clearly and calmly to set you up for success.
Hover over the video progress bar at the bottom of the frame to see how Jen has neatly labeled each part of this lesson.
The Design of the Month?
It’s Jen’s own pattern for Moorland Socks (Ravelry link to the Confident Knitting patterns page)!
So cozy.
How to Get in on Confident Knitting
Jen and Jim Arnall-Culliford have assembled everything you need to join the fun right here.
Join the conversation in the Arnall-Culliford Knitwear Knitalong Hub.
And, drumroll please … we have Confident Knitting in the Shop now!
This is brilliant as always! I’ve been knitting garter stitch heel flaps for some time now and love how stretchy they are. They also help me tell the difference between my socks and my partner since his are just longer enough to not fit me properly. He gets slipped stitch heel flaps and I get garter.
Now, we need an article about how to equally divide and then wind up these yummy self striping yarns! I would prefer to do Two At A Time so I knit then perfectly evenly…or as close to perfect as I can…AND so I don’t get stuck in some single sock back alley. How does everyone else handle this without having a tangled mess of yarn?
Monica, try the Uneek yarn MDK carries – it comes in two matching balls, each enough for one sock. Otherwise the only way I know is to sit down with a ball of yarn and a scale and divide them up. I’m fine with fraternal socks though so I hardly ever do that.
I’d be interested in discussion of other short row heel methods, like twin stitches for example.
Looks very nice as it adds a textural dash to the socks…
forgive me for asking, but how does that garter heel feel to the wearer?? Is it more bumpy or does it feel more squishy?
Totally agree with your recommendation of this heel. It looks good, feels comfy, is easy to do. In addition to stripes it’s useful when you want to avoid breaking up self-patterning yarn as well as mosaic and stranded patterns. I learned it from a Lucy Neatby book and have used it many times over the past 15+ years that I’ve been a sock knitter. You can also match up a garter stitch toe.
This is the first heel i learned many years ago and ir remains my favorite – love the cushiness.
Hmmmm…I might have to try this. Not normally a short row heel fan, but the garter stitch is worth a shot. They just don’t fit me as well. Plus, I can do the traditional one in my sleep. #lazyknitter
that’s the hardest thing for me too–change my sock knitting habits at this late stage??? Scary!
Do the Zauberballs really do such perfect stripes? That is amazing. They might entice me back to the rabbit hole of sock knitting. What happens if you use them for scarves? Same striping or something else?
If I’m understanding correctly, the socks in the photos were knit with a self-striping yarn from Fab Funky Fibres (https://www.fabfunkyfibres.shop/), not a Zauberball. The note about Zauberballs (and Uneek) was meant to answer the question of which yarns _carried by MDK_ would be good for this sock pattern. Using either of the alternative recommended yarns would give a different effect. The closest would probably be Uneek sock, but rather than tidy discrete colorful stripes on a neutral background, it produces the effect of a long colorful gradient overlaid with contrasting stripes.
I would love to see MDK carry some of this genre of indie-dyed tidy self-stripers! It’s my favorite kind of sock yarn.